Madam,

I had already learned, whilst chatting with my Year 11 granddaughter at home, about the ridiculous fuss going on at school because some boys dressed as girls for the Leavers Party Day the previous week.

Even so, I was astonished to see this as your major front-page banner headline. Much Ado About Nothing?

In my view the whole point is being missed here. What needs to be banned in the future is surely this entire nonsensical business, imported over the last couple of decades from the USA, which has wrapped itself around the annual ritual of public examinations, taken at 16 and 18, they gain their essential qualifications.

It has turned into some kind of circus, in which peer pressure convinces hundreds of youngsters that they must incur vast expense on swanky outfits or stretch limos to go to school in.

And the silliest thing of all? They “leave” before they have even started on their main block of written exams - and some of them leave twice if they should return for a further two years in the sixth form after the holidays!

By all means hold a celebration party annually at the end of this stressful period - for both teachers and pupils - but this in late afternoon or evening and near the end of the term.

How can they “celebrate” at the same time as having a normal day of school lessons in the run-up to the exams?

Fortunately nothing so insane was expected to form a part of the summer term during my years as a secondary teacher. There were more important matters to take up our time as we tried to prepare them to achieve the best they could in the coming weeks.

Perhaps Penweddig could set in motion a new trend by becoming the first school in Wales to permanently delete all this rubbish from their school calendar? And then invite others to do the same. I’m sure the majority of parents and teachers, and probably quite a few of the pupils, too, would actually welcome any such move.

Yours etc,

Joyce Porter, Talybont, Aberystwyth.

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